Change of School Opening Dates as Proposed by Parents Association

Change of School Opening Dates. The National Parents Association has issued a warning, stating that when schools resume this week, the continuous rains will negatively impact education.

Even as the rains continued to leave a path of devastation, sorrow, and deaths in their wake, the association has suggested changing the opening dates for schools in the impacted districts.

This occurred as the meteorological agency issued a warning about more intense rain in the upcoming days, with more than 50 deaths confirmed to date and numerous injuries and missing persons.

Rain and flooding has disrupted tens of schools nationwide, according to the association’s secretary general, Eskimos Kobia. Kobia urged the authorities to investigate how many schools were impacted by the rain in order to modify the start dates for the safety of the pupils.

“As the schools reopen for the second term, we are closely monitoring the continuing rains and collaborating with the government to ensure the safety of the students’ lives,” he stated.

Speaking on Sunday in Naivasha, Kobia stated that victims of the rains had set up camp at nearby schools in some of the areas severely impacted. The secretary-general said that important highways, mostly in rural regions, had been closed off by the rain, further endangering the lives of the students.

Change of School Opening Dates

“The concern is not just the reopening of schools; it’s also the safety of the students as they travel from their homes to the educational facilities,” he stated.

Kobia continued, stating that the association’s preliminary evaluation had shown that numerous impacted families had misplaced school supplies and uniforms.

He continued by saying that learning materials had occasionally been washed away and that walls and classrooms in the impacted schools had collapsed, rendering the buildings uninhabitable.

“The floods have had a negative impact on the education sector, and we applaud the government’s decision to establish a multi-agency team to support the displaced,” he stated.

Families in Naivasha who live close to the River Malewa and Lake Naivasha have been advised to move to higher land due to a substantial rise in water levels during the past two weeks.

Francis Muthui, chairman of Friends of Lake Naivasha, reported that significant rainfall in the catchment areas was causing all rivers, including seasonal ones, to flood into the lake.

“We are urging Kihoto locals who reside close to Lake Naivasha and the Malewa and Karati rivers to begin moving before it’s too late,” he declared.